From 1308 to 1311, and again from 1458, the landgraviate was divided into Upper Hesse and Lower Hesse. Hesse was re-unified under Landgrave William II in 1500. The Landgraviate rose to primary importance under his son Philip I, also called Philip the Magnanimous, who embraced Protestantism following the 1526 Synod of Homberg and then took steps to create a protective alliance of Protestant princes and powers against the Catholic emperor Charles V. When Philip I died in 1567, Hesse was divided between his sons from his first marriage, which decisively enfeebled its importance.

1.
Marburg
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Marburg is a university town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district. The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximately 72,000, having been awarded town privileges in 1222, Marburg served as capital of the landgraviate of Hessen-Marburg during periods of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. The University of Marburg was founded in 1527 and dominates the life in the town to this day. The settlement was protected and customs were raised by a castle built during the ninth or tenth century by the Giso. Marburg has been a town since 1140, as proven by coins, from the Gisos, it fell around that time to the Landgraves of Thuringia, residing on the Wartburg above Eisenach. In 1228, the widowed princess-landgravine of Thuringia, Elizabeth of Hungary, chose Marburg as her seat, as she did not get along well with her brother-in-law. The countess dedicated her life to the sick and would become after her death in 1231, aged 24. In 1264, St Elizabeths daughter Sophie of Brabant, succeeded in winning the Landgraviate of Hessen, hitherto connected to Thuringia, Marburg was one of the capitals of Hessen from that time until about 1540. Following the first division of the landgraviate, it was the capital of Hessen-Marburg from 1485 to 1500, Hessen was one of the more powerful second-tier principalities in Germany. Its old enemy was the Archbishopric of Mainz, one of the prince-electors, after 1605, Marburg became just another provincial town, known mostly for the University of Marburg. It became a backwater for two centuries after the Thirty Years War, when it was fought over by Hessen-Darmstadt and Hesse-Kassel. The Hessian territory around Marburg lost more than two-thirds of its population, Marburg is the seat of the oldest Protestant-founded university in the world, the University of Marburg, founded in 1527. It is one of the university towns in Germany, Greifswald, Erlangen, Jena, and Tübingen, as well as the city of Gießen. In 1529, Philipp I of Hesse arranged the Marburg Colloquy, to propitiate Martin Luther, when Romanticism became the dominant cultural and artistic paradigm in Germany, Marburg became interesting once again, and many of the leaders of the movement lived, taught, or studied in Marburg. They formed a circle of friends that was of importance, especially in literature, philology, folklore. Most famous internationally, however, were the Brothers Grimm, who collected many of their fairy tales here, the original building inspiring his drawing Rapunzels Tower stands in Amönau near Marburg. Across the Lahn hills, in the area called Schwalm, the costumes of little girls included a red hood, in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Prince-elector of Hessen had backed Austria. Prussia won and took the opportunity to invade and annex the Electorate of Hessen north of the Main River, however, the pro-Austrian Hesse-Darmstadt remained independent

2.
Gudensberg
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Gudensberg is a small town in northern Hesse, Germany. Since the municipal reform in 1974, the villages of Deute, Dissen, Dorla, Gleichen, Maden. The towns municipal area borders to the north and northeast on Edermünde, south and southeast of the river Ems lie further parts of Felsberg. To the south, southwest, and west are constituent communities of Fritzlar, to the northwest, Gudensbergs community of Gleichen abuts Niedenstein, in this direction, behind the Odenberg, rise the Langenberge, that belong to the Habichtswald Nature Park. In the area around Gudensberg, many prehistoric and early historic finds have shown that the area was inhabited by people now known as the Chatti, on the Lamsberg, finds from the Rössen culture have been unearthed. In 1938, between the Odenberg and Gudensberg, a Linear Pottery culture settlement from about 4000 BC and an Iron Age settlement were discovered, at the Kassler Kreuz, a graveyard with cremated remains from about 1000 BC was discovered when a railway was built in 1899. In the 10th Century, the Hof Wodensberg, a farm in Gudensberg, was run using three-field crop rotation, Gudensberg itself had its first mention in documents in 1121. The towns name is derived from an older form, Wotansberg, after the god Wōdanaz. In the Middle Ages, a castle was built on the hill and was named the Obernburg and it was the seat of Hessian regional counts. With the partition of Thuringia, Gudensberg fell to the Landgraviate of Hesse, in 1300, Landgrave Henry I moved his residence from Gudensberg to Kassel and Gudensberg lost its political and administrative importance. In 1324, however, Gudensberg was still being mentioned as the Capital of Nyderlandt, in 1365, the Hospital Heiliger Geist for lepers was founded. In the many feuds between the Archbishopric of Mainz and the Landgraviate of Hesse, Gudensberg was one of Hesses main bases, in 1387, Gudensberg and the Wenigenburg —– but not the Obernburg —– were sacked by troops from Mainz. Fiery catastrophes befell the town a number of times, in 1587, the town was laid waste through carelessness. In 1640, during the Thirty Years War, the town was sacked by Imperial troops, in this plundering, tilly convened a Landtag of Hessian towns in Gudensberg in 1626. In 1709, Landgrave Karl of Hesse-Kassel organized excavations in the Mader Heide which brought to light remnants of Iron Age settlements, in the Seven Years War, the still partly preserved Obernburg was heavily damaged by bombardment in 1761 by British troops under John Mannerss leadership. In 1806, French troops plundered and thoroughly destroyed what was left of the Obernburg, the town gates were torn down because they were a traffic hazard in 1823. Deutes first mention in documents goes back to 1314, a house dating from 1665 is still standing today. In the 18th Century, there was a brown coal mine in Deute

3.
Kassel
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Kassel is a city located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the Kreis of the same name and has 200,507 inhabitants in December 2015. The former capital of the state of Hesse-Kassel has many palaces and parks, including the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel is also known for the documenta exhibitions of contemporary art. The citys name is derived from the ancient Castellum Cattorum, a castle of the Chatti, Kassel was first mentioned in 913 AD, as the place where two deeds were signed by King Conrad I. The place was called Chasella and was a fortification at a crossing the Fulda river. A deed from 1189 certifies that Cassel had city rights, in 1567, the Landgraviate of Hesse, until then centered in Marburg, was divided among four sons, with Hesse-Kassel becoming one of its successor states. Kassel was its capital and became a centre of Calvinist Protestantism in Germany, strong fortifications were built to protect the Protestant stronghold against Catholic enemies. Secret societies, such as Rosicrucianism flourished, with Christian Rosenkreutz’s work Fama Fraternitis first published in 1617, in 1685, Kassel became a refuge for 1,700 Huguenots who found shelter in the newly established borough of Oberneustadt. Landgrave Charles, who was responsible for this act, also ordered the construction of the Oktagon. In the early 19th century, the Brothers Grimm lived in Kassel and they collected and wrote most of their fairy tales there. At that time, around 1803, the Landgraviate was elevated to a Principality, shortly after, it was annexed by Napoleon and in 1807 it became the capital of the short-lived Kingdom of Westphalia under Napoleons brother Jérôme. The Electorate was restored in 1813, having sided with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War to gain supremacy in Germany, the principality was annexed by Prussia in 1866. The Prussian administration united Nassau, Frankfurt and Hesse-Kassel into the new Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, Kassel ceased to be a princely residence, but soon developed into a major industrial centre, as well as a major railway junction. Henschel & Son, the largest railway locomotive manufacturer in Germany at the end of the century, was based in Kassel. In 1870, after the Battle of Sedan, Napoleon III was sent as a prisoner to the castle of Wilhelmshohe above the city, during World War I the German military headquarters were located in the castle of Wilhelmshohe. In the late 1930s Nazis destroyed Heinrich Hübschs Kassel Synagogue, the most severe bombing of Kassel in World War II destroyed 90% of the downtown area, some 10,000 people were killed, and 150,000 were made homeless. Most of the casualties were civilians or wounded soldiers recuperating in local hospitals, Karl Gerland replaced the regional Gauleiter, Karl Weinrich, soon after the raid. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Kassel at the beginning of April 1945, post-war, most of the ancient buildings were not restored, and large parts of the city area were completely rebuilt in the style of the 1950s

4.
Rulers of Hesse
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This is a list of rulers of Hesse during the history of Hesse on west-central Germany. These rulers belonged to a dynasty known as the House of Hesse. Hesse was ruled as a Landgraviate, Electorate and later as a Grand duchy until 1918, the title of all of the following rulers was Landgrave unless otherwise noted. In the early Middle Ages the Hessengau territory formed the parts of the German stem duchy of Franconia along with the adjacent Lahngau. Upon the extinction of the ducal Conradines, these Rhenish Franconian counties were gradually acquired by Landgrave Louis I of Thuringia, the remaining Thuringian landgraviate fell to the Wettin margrave Henry III of Meissen. Henry I of Hesse was raised to princely status by King Adolf of Germany in 1292, Hesse Between 1308 and 1311 the brothers Otto I and John I divided Hesse between them, until the death of John in 1311, when Hesse was reunited again. From 1567 on the new partition made wasnt over until the end of World War I, Philip I divided his land in four parts, Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Marburg, Hesse-Rheinfels and Hesse-Darmstadt. Hesse-Kassel Hesse-Marburg Hesse-Rheinfels Hesse-Darmstadt In 1583 the only holder of Hesse-Rheinfels I, Philip II, died withou heirs, the same happened in 1604, Louis IV of Hesse-Marburg died without heirs and his lands divided between the two remaining brothers. Although some dispute in this last division, the division was concluded in 1648, between 1609 and 1632, Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt were divided, In 1609 Hesse-Darmstadt divided in Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Darmstadt-Butzbach. In 1655 Hesse-Kassel-Eschwege returned to Hesse-Kassel-Rotenburg, and in 1658 the same occurred to Hesse-Kassel-Rheinfels, in 1661 Hesse-Darmstadt divided itself again, to create Hesse-Itter. In 1663 from Hesse-Kassel was created Hesse-Kassel-Philippsthal. In 1806 Hesse-Darmstadt annexed Hesse-Darmstadt-Homburg, in 1807 the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel was annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia, to be restored in 1813, together with the mentioned lands. In 1834 Hesse-Kassel-Rotenburg reunited with Hesse-Kassel, In 1866 various lands was annexed by Prussia, only surviving Hesse-Darmstadt, genealogy of the Hessian noble family

5.
Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse
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Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, nicknamed der Großmütige was a leading champion of the Protestant Reformation and one of the most important of the early Protestant rulers in Germany. Philip was the son of Landgrave William II of Hesse and his second wife Anna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. His father died when Philip was five years old, and in 1514 his mother, after a series of struggles with the Estates of Hesse, the struggles over authority continued, however. To put an end to them, Philip was declared of age in 1518, the power of the Estates had been broken by his mother, but he owed her little else. His education had been imperfect, and his moral and religious training had been neglected. Despite all this, he developed rapidly as a statesman, the first meeting of Philip of Hesse with Martin Luther took place in 1521, at the age of 17, at the Diet of Worms. There he was attracted by Luthers personality, though he had at first little interest in the elements of the gathering. Philip embraced Protestantism in 1524 after a meeting with the theologian Philipp Melanchthon. He then helped suppress the German Peasants War by defeating Thomas Müntzer at the Battle of Frankenhausen, Philip refused to be drawn into the anti-Lutheran league of George, Duke of Saxony, in 1525. At the same time, he united political motives with his religious policy, as early as the spring of 1526, he sought to prevent the election of the Catholic Archduke Ferdinand as Holy Roman Emperor. Although there was no strong popular movement for Protestantism in Hesse, the University of Marburg was founded in the summer of 1527 to be, like the University of Wittenberg, a school for Protestant theologians. Their activities, along with other circumstances, including rumors of war and his suspicions were confirmed to his own satisfaction by a forgery given him by an adventurer who had been employed in important missions by George of Saxony, one Otto von Pack. Both Luther and the chancellor, Gregor Brück, though convinced of the existence of the conspiracy. Nevertheless, he took a part in uniting the Protestant representatives. Before leaving the city he succeeded in forming, on 22 April 1529, Philip was especially anxious to prevent division over the subject of the Eucharist. Through him Huldrych Zwingli was invited to Germany, and Philip thus prepared the way for of the celebrated Marburg Colloquy, the result was that Philip was suspected of a tendency toward Zwinglianism. Philip eagerly embraced Zwinglis plan of a great Protestant alliance to extend from the Adriatic to Denmark to keep the Holy Roman Emperor from crossing into Germany, the arrival of the emperor put an end to these disputes for the time being. Moreover, Bucer fully agreed with the landgrave on the importance of compromise measures in treating the controversy surrounding the Eucharist and this effort resulted in the foundation of, the League of Gotha, then the League of Torgau, and finally the Schmalkaldic League

6.
Duchy of Thuringia
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It was recreated in the Carolingian Empire and its dukes appointed by the king until it was absorbed by the Saxon dukes in 908. From about 1111/12 the territory was ruled by the Landgraves of Thuringia as Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, with Bisinus a first Thuringian king is documented about 500, who ruled over extended estates that stretched beyond the Main River in the south. His son and successor Hermanafrid married Amalaberga, a niece of the Ostrogoth king Theoderic the Great, however, when King Theoderic died in 526, they took the occasion to invade the Thuringian lands and finally carried off the victory in a 531 battle on the Unstrut River. King Theuderic of Rheims had Hermanafrid trapped in Zülpich where the last Thuringian king was killed and his niece Princess Radegund was kidnapped by King Chlothar I and died in exile in 586. The Thuringian realm was shattered, the north of the Harz mountain range was settled by Saxon tribes. The estates east of the Saale River were beyond Frankish control, the first documented duke of remaining Thuringia was a local noble named Radulf, installed by King Dagobert in the early 630s. Radulf was able to secure the Frankish border along the Saale River in the east from Slavic incursions, a punitive expedition led by the Frankish Mayor of the Palace Grimoald ultimatively failed and Radulf was able to maintain his semi-autonomous position. A conflict with Charles Martel around 717–19 brought an end to autonomy, in 849, the eastern part of Thuringia was organised as the limes Sorabicus, or Sorbian March, and placed under a duke named Thachulf. After Thachulfs death in 873, the Sorbs rose in revolt, in 880, King Louis replaced Radulf with Poppo, perhaps a kinsman. Poppo instigated a war with Saxony in 882 and in 883 he and his brother Egino fought a war for control of Thuringia. Egino died in 886 and Poppo resumed command, in 892, King Arnulf replaced Poppo with Conrad. This was an act of patronage by the king, for Conrads house, the Conradines, were soon feuding with Poppos, but Conrads rule was short, perhaps because he had a lack of local support. He was replaced by Burchard, whose title in 903 was marchio Thuringionum, Burchard had to defend Thuringia from the incursions of the Magyars and was defeated and killed in battle, along with the former duke Egino, on 3 August 908. He was the last recorded duke of Thuringia, the duchy was the smallest of the so-called younger stem duchies, and was absorbed by Saxony after Burchards death, when Burchards sons were finally expelled by Duke Henry the Fowler in 913. The Thuringians remained a distinct people, and in the Middle Ages their land was organised as a landgraviate, a separate Thuringian stem duchy did not exist during the emergence of the German kingdom from East Francia in the 10th century. Large parts of the Thuringian estates were controlled by the Counts of Weimar, according to the medieval chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg, Margrave Eckard I was appointed Thuringian duke. After his assassination 1002, Count William II of Weimar acted as Thuringian spokesman with King Henry II of Germany, Louis I had married the Rhenish Franconian countess Hedwig of Gudensberg and became the heir of extended estates in Thuringia and Hesse. A close ally of King Lothair II of Germany against the rising Hohenstaufen dynasty, the dynasty maintained the landgraviate throughout the fierce struggle of the Hohenstaufen and Welf royal families, occasionally switching sides according to the circumstances

7.
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
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Prince of the Holy Roman Empire was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Originally, possessors of the title bore it as immediate vassals of the Empire, secular or ecclesiastical. However, by the time the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, the first came to be reckoned as royalty in the sense of being treated as sovereigns, entitled to inter-marry with reigning dynasties. The second tier consisted of high-ranking nobles whose princely title did not, however, the actual titles used by Imperial princes varied considerably for historical reasons, and included archdukes, dukes, margraves, landgraves, counts palatine, princely counts, as well as princes. The estate of princes or Reichsfürstenstand was first established in a legal sense in the Late Middle Ages. Not all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire, from the 13th century onwards, further estates were formally raised to the princely status by the emperor. The resolutions of the Diet of Augsburg in 1582 explicitly stated that the status was linked with the possession of a particular Imperial territory. Most of the Counts who ruled territories were raised to Princely rank in the decades before the end of the Empire in 1806, ecclesiastical Princes were the Prince-Bishops as well as the actual Prince-abbots. They comprised a number of entities which were secularized and mediatized after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals, sovereigns outside the Empire, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Prince of Piombino was another example, nobles allowed to bear the princely title, but who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet, individual or shared, such as the House of Kinsky. This included nobles who lacked immediacy, but who were allowed, motu proprio, by the Emperor to enjoy the title, although this courtesy tended to become hereditary for families, the right to princely status was called Personalist and could be revoked by the Emperor. List of states in the Holy Roman Empire List of Imperial Diet participants German mediatization Structure of Princes of The Holy Roman Empire

8.
Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
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His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the capital of Kassel. The other sons received the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Rheinfels, the line of Landgraves was founded by William IV, surnamed the Wise, the eldest son of Philip I. On his fathers death in 1567, he received one half of the Landgraviate of Hesse, with Kassel as his capital, and this formed the Landgraviate. The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel expanded in 1604 when Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel inherited the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg from his childless uncle, Louis IV and his younger sons received apanages, which created several cadet lines of the house. The family line of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg survived till 1834, with the aid of the French and Swedes, she held it, together with part of Westphalia. During the Thirty Years War, the Calvinist Hesse-Kassel proved to be Swedens most loyal German ally and they maintained an army, garrisoning many strongholds, including Dorsten, the strongest fortress on the right bank of the Rhine which was subsequently lost as the Siege of Dorsten. Meanwhile, Hesse-Kassel was occupied by Imperial troops, at the Peace of Westphalia, accordingly, Hesse-Kassel was augmented by the larger part of the County of Schaumburg and by the Hersfeld Abbey, secularized as a principality of the Empire. The regent Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg introduced the rule of primogeniture, William VI, who came of age in 1650, was an enlightened patron of learning and the arts. He was succeeded by his son William VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, then an infant and he was succeeded by his brother Charles I. Frederick I of Sweden, the next landgrave, had become by marriage King of Sweden, on his death, he was succeeded in the landgraviate by his brother William VIII, who fought as an ally of Kingdom of Great Britain during the Seven Years War. This action, often criticized, has in later years found apologists. Historians now argue that the troops were Auxiliaries or mercenaries, Frederick II used the revenue thus derived to develop the economic and intellectual life of the country. Due to their involvement in the American War of Independence, Hessian has become an American slang term for all German soldiers deployed by the British against the American Revolution, one such regiment was the Musketeer Regiment Prinz Carl. Since the early years of the Reformation, the House of Hesse was Protestant, Landgraves Philip I, William V, and Maurice married descendants of King George of Bohemia. From William VI onwards, mothers of the heads of Hesse-Kassel were always descended from William the Silent, William V was succeeded by Landgraves William VI and William VII. Under King Frederick I of Sweden, Hesse-Kassel was in union with Sweden from 1730–51. But the Kings younger brother, Prince William, ruled in Kassel as regent until he succeeded his brother, Hesse-Kassel maintained 7% of its entire population under arms throughout the eighteenth century. This force served as a source of mercenaries for other European states, the principality thus became known as Kurhessen, although still usually referred to as Hesse-Kassel

9.
Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt
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The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the four sons of Landgrave Philip I, the residence of the landgraves was in Darmstadt, hence the name. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars, the landgraviate was elevated to the Grand Duchy of Hesse following the Empires dissolution in 1806. His eldest brother William IV received the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, while the second son Louis IV obtained Hesse-Marburg, the Hesse-Rheinfels line became extinct on Philips death in 1583. Because the University of Marburg had become Calvinist under the rule of Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel, the inheritance conflict was continued in the broader contest of the Thirty Years War, in which Hesse-Kassel sided with the Protestant estates and Hesse-Darmstadt sided with the Habsburg emperor. The Hesse-Homburg and Hesse-Rotenburg estates seceded from the opponents in 1622 and 1627, the conflict was finally settled on the eve of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, more than eighty years after the division of the estates. Large parts of the disputed Upper Hesse territory including Marburg fell to the elder Kassel line, while Hesse-Darmstadt retained Giessen, in 1736, the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt inherited the estates of the extinct Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg, again contested by their Kassel cousins. Hesse-Darmstadt gained a deal of territory by the secularizations and mediatizations authorized by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803. List of rulers of Hesse Piotr Napierała, Hesja-Darmstadt w XVIII stuleciu, wielcy władcy małego państwa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, Poznań2009. ISBN 978-83-232-2007-7 Map of Hesse in 1789 - Northern Part Map of Hesse in 1789 - Southern Part

10.
Hesse-Marburg
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The Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg was a German landgraviate, and independent principality, within the Holy Roman Empire, that existed between 1458 and 1500, and between 1567 and 1604/1650. It consisted of the city of Marburg and the towns of Gießen, Nidda and Eppstein. The area had been a semi-independent county under the counts Giso or Gisonen since the 11th century, when the daughter of St. However, Hesse-Marburg, by its name, refers only to the subdivision around Marburg. This became an independent principality due to inheritance, i. e. by a landgrave splitting his possessions among two or more sons and this was first the case in 1485, but as the landgrave died without issue, and the landgraviate reverted to the greater Hesse. This was again the case in 1567, Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse or Philip the Magnanimous split his large landgraviate into four parts, Hesse-Kassel was Calvinist at that time. As the two argued over the details of the division, Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel annexed the whole territory. After a long dispute and armed conflict, Maurice — who had enemies at home as well — resigned in 1627 and left his part of the territory to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. However, in the Hessian War of 1645–48, which was a sub-conflict of the Thirty Years War and this war led to the loss of life of up to two-thirds of the civilian population, one of the highest death toll in any German region in history. In the end, the territory was divided as stipulated in Louis IVs will, Hesse-Kassel taking the northern and Hesse-Darmstadt the southern part. All areas of Hesse-Marburg are today located within the German state of Hesse

11.
Hesse-Rheinfels
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Philip was the third son of Philip the Magnanimous, Landgrave of Hesse and Christine of Saxony. After his fathers death in 1567, the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided between the four out of the late landgraves first marriage. Philip the younger received the portion around the Rheinfels Castle and city of St. Goar on the bank of the Rhine. Maurice the Learned was Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1592 until 1627, first creation Philip II, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels, landgrave 1567–1583 Second creation Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels 1627–1658, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg 1658–1693. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain. European Kingdoms, Central Europe, Landgraves of Hessen-Rheinfels AD1567 -1869, historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder, die deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart

12.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form

13.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld

14.
Chatti
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The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser. They settled within the region in the first century B. C, while Julius Caesar was well informed about the regions and tribes on the eastern banks of the Rhine, he never mentioned the Chatti by name. He did make note of the Suebi though, and suggested that they had driven out the Celts to the south of the region corresponding to modern north Hesse in the prior centuries BC. Some commentators believe that Caesars Suebi were possibly the later Chatti and they were poor because they had fought the Romans, and had been defeated and plundered. He says that, settlements begin at the Hercynian forest, where the country is not so open and they are found where there are hills, and with them grow less frequent, for the Hercynian forest keeps close till it has seen the last of its native Chatti. Hardy frames, close-knit limbs, fierce countenances, and a peculiarly vigorous courage and their whole strength is in their infantry, which, in addition to its arms, is laden with iron tools and provisions. Other tribes you see going to battle, the Chatti to a campaign, seldom do they engage in mere raids and casual encounters. It is indeed the peculiarity of a force quickly to win. Fleetness and timidity go together, deliberateness is more akin to steady courage, Tacitus also notes that like other Germanic tribes, the Chatti took an interest in traditions concerning haircuts and beards. The coward and the unwarlike remain unshorn, the bravest of them also wear an iron ring until they have released themselves by the slaughter of a foe. Most of the Chatti delight in these fashions, even hoary-headed men are distinguished by them, and are thus conspicuous alike to enemies and to fellow-countrymen. To begin the battle always rests with them, they form the first line, nor even in peace do they assume a more civilised aspect. It is possible that at first the Chatti moved into place on the Rhine, Cassius Dio describes Drusus establishing a fort in Chatti territory on the Rhine in 11 BC, and that in 10 BC they moved out of an area where the Romans had permitted them. To the north of the Chatti, Tacitus places the area of the Chauci. To the east, the neighbours of the Chatti and Chauci were the Cherusci, after the early third century AD, however, the Chatti virtually disappear from the sources and are only called upon as a topical element or when writing about events of the first century. Cassius Dio is most likely not only the first author to mention the Alamanni, writing about the Germanic war of Caracalla in 213 AD, he has the emperor fight Κέννους, Kελτικòν ἔθνος. This is taken from an excerpt of Dio in the writings of Joannes Xiphilinus, however, the usage of Kελτικός for Germanic peoples was an archaic tradition among Greek writers. After Cassius Dio, the name Chattus appears among others in a panegyric by Sidonius Apollinaris in the fifth century

15.
Duchy of Franconia
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The Duchy of Franconia was one of the five stem duchies of East Francia and the medieval German kingdom emerging in the early 10th century. The word Franconia, first used in a Latin charter of 1053, was applied like the words Francia, France and it also included several Gaue on the left bank of the Rhine around the cities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms comprising present-day Rhenish Hesse and the Palatinate region. Unlike the other stem duchies, Franconia did not evolve into a political entity. In 906 the Conradine relative Count Conrad the Younger in the Lahngau is mentioned as a dux Franconiae, upon the extinction of the East Frankish Carolingians in 911, he was elected the first German king and was succeeded as Franconian duke by his younger brother Eberhard. King Otto did not appoint a new duke of Franconia, and the duchy was fragmented into several counties and bishoprics, the Salian counts in Rhenish Franconia were sometimes mentioned as Franconian dukes and they became Germanys royal and imperial dynasty in 1024. In 1093 their Franconian territories were granted as a fief to the count of Aachen. It contained the cities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms, the two being the administrative centres of countships within the hands of the Salian descendants of Conrad the Red. These counts were sometimes referred to as the Dukes of Franconia, Emperor Conrad II was last to bear the ducal title. Alongside these powerful entities were many smaller, petty states, in 1093, Emperor Henry IV gave the Salian territories in Rhenish Franconia as a fief to Henry of Laach, the Count palatine of Lower Lorraine at Aachen. His lands would evolve into the important principality of Electoral Palatinate, while Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1168 granted the ducal title to the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg in Eastern Franconia, Rhenish Franconia was divided and extinguished. Its territories became part of the Imperial Upper Rhenish Circle in 1500, Frederick, called himself Duke of Franconia towards his death Conrad II In 1168 the duchy of Franconia was bestowed by the Emperor Frederick I on the Bishopric of Würzburg. The bishops continued to rule until the bishopric was secularized in 1803, when the Grand Duchy of Würzburg, the Archbishopric of Mainz and most other parts of Franconia became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814, the kings assumed the ducal title. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh

16.
Lahngau
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The Lahngau was a medieval territory comprising the middle and lower Lahn River valley in the current German states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. The traditional names of the Gau are Loganahe Pagus or Pagus Logenensis, the Lahngau was the East Frankish ancestral homeland of the Conradines. It was divided in ca.900 into the Upper and Lower Lahngau, the western boundary of the Lahngau was near present-day Montabaur. To the west of the Lahngau, extending to the Rhine River, was the Engersgau with its center in the Neuwied Basin, the northwestern border was marked by the watershed of the Westerwald. Northwest and north of the Lahngau was the Auelgau with its central settlements near the mouth of the Sieg River, North and northeast of the Lahngau was the Hessengau, the former settlement area of the Chatti. Like the Lahngau, the Hessengau would for a time be dominated by the Conradines, southeast of the Lahngau was the Wettereibagau. South, at the watershed of the Taunus Mountains, was the boundary with the Königssondergau, the exact demarcation of the boundary between Oberlahngau and Niederlahngau has not survived. According to some historians, the boundary is presumed to have been the watershed between the Solmsbach and the Weil River, east of Weilburg. Christian Spielmann writes in 1894, “Weilburg lay in the Niederlahngau and it extended from about the Nister to the Pfahlgraben and from the Gelbach and Aar westward to the Ulmbach and eastward to Weil. Other historians suggest the border was west of Weilburg, hellmuth Gensicke suggested the watershed between the Kerkerbach and Elbbach as a possible boundary. The following discussion is based on the interpretation of Gensicke assuming a border west Weilburg, the Carolingian gaus were divided into districts called Zentmarken. For these districts names such as gau, “Zente”, or “Mark” were used, the original Zentmarken of the Niederlahngau were probably the Reckenforst around Dietkirchen, the Hadamarer Mark, the Ellarer Mark, and the Zente Winnen - Höhn. In the Oberlahngau were the Haiger Mark and the Herborner Mark, the Erdagau should also be understood as a sub-gau of the Lahngau. The assignment of the Kallenbach Zent north of present-day Löhnberg is unclear, with increasingly denser populations, the Zentmarken were divided or new ones were established. The population centers of the Lahngau developed from places established at fords on the Lahn, some of these places go back, according to archaeological finds, to Frankish camps of the 6th and 7th centuries that secured crossings of the Lahn. The urban centers of the Niederlahngau were the cities of Diez. The centers that developed in the Oberlahngau were Wetzlar, Haiger, Dietkirchen emerged as an important ecclesiastical center for the Lahngau. In the Middle Ages, the St. Lubentius Basilica at Dietkirchen was the seat of an archdeaconry that included all of the areas on the bank of the Rhine belonging to the Archbishopric of Trier

17.
Rhenish Franconia
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Rhenish Franconia or Western Franconia denotes the western half of the central German stem duchy of Franconia in the 10th and 11th century, with its residence at the city of Worms. The territory located on the banks of Rhine river roughly corresponded with the state of Hesse. It contained the ancient cities of Mainz, Speyer and Worms and these counts were sometimes referred to informally, on account of the great power in the region, as dukes of Franconia. Emperor Conrad II was actually the last to bear the ducal title, alongside these powerful entities there were many smaller, petty states. While Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1198 granted the title to the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg in Eastern Franconia. Its territories became part of the Imperial Upper Rhenish Circle in 1500, leipzig 1897 Herzogtümer Ost- und Rheinfranken

18.
Landgrave
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Landgrave was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of Landgraf, Markgraf, and Pfalzgraf are in the class of ranks as Herzog. The English word landgrave is the equivalent of the German Landgraf, the title referred originally to a count who had imperial immediacy, or feudal duty owed directly to the Holy Roman Emperor. His jurisdiction stretched over a quite considerable territory, which was not subservient to an intermediate power, such as a Duke. The title survived from the times of the Holy Roman Empire, by definition, a landgrave exercised sovereign rights. His decision-making power was comparable to that of a Duke, a landgrave was a county nobleman in the British, privately held North American colony Carolina, ranking just below the proprietary. Examples include, Landgrave of Thuringia Landgraves of Hesse and its subsequent divisions, mayer, Theodor, Über Entstehung und Bedeutung der älteren deutschen Landgrafschaften, in Mitteralterliche Studien – Gesammelte Aufsätze, ed. F. Knapp 187–201. Also published in Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Germanische Abteilung 58 210–288, mayer, Theodor, Herzogtum und Landeshoheit, Fürsten und Staat. Studien zur Verfassungsgeschichte des deutschen Mittelalters 276–301, eichenberger, T. Patria, Studien zur Bedeutung des Wortes im Mittelalter, Nationes – Historische und philologische Untersuchungen zur Entstehung der europäischen Nationen im Mittelalter 9. Van Droogenbroeck, Frans J. De betekenis van paltsgraaf Herman II voor het graafschap Brabant, van Droogenbroeck, Frans J. Het landgraafschap Brabant en zijn paltsgrafelijke voorgeschiedenis. De territoriale en institutionele aanloop tot het ontstaan van het hertogdom Brabant The dictionary definition of landgrave at Wiktionary

19.
Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia
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Henry Raspe succeeded his nephew Hermann II as Landgrave of Thuringia in central Germany in 1241, he later was elected anti-king in 1246–1247 in opposition to Conrad IV of Germany. In 1226, Henrys brother Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, died en route to the Sixth Crusade, and Henry became regent for his under-age nephew Hermann II, Landgrave of Thuringia. He managed to expel his nephew and the young mother, St. Elisabeth of Hungary, from the line of succession. In 1242 Henry, together with King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, was selected by Emperor Frederick II to be administrator of Germany for Fredericks under-age son Conrad. After the papal ban on Frederick imposed by Pope Innocent IV in 1245, Raspe changed sides, the strong papal prodding that led to his election earned Raspe the derogatory moniker of Pfaffenkönig. Henry defeated Conrad in the Battle of Nidda in southern Hesse in August 1246, having suffered a mortal wound, he died February 1247 in Wartburg Castle near Eisenach in Thuringia. In 1228, he married Elisabeth, the daughter of Albert II, after her death, he married Gertrude, the daughter of Leopold VI, Duke of Austria. After her death, he married Beatrix, the daughter of Henry II, all three of his marriages were childless. After his death, the Emperor enfeoffed Thuringia to Henry III, Geschichte Thüringens Zur Zeit Des Ersten Landgrafenhauses. Galletti, Johann Georg A. Geschichte Thüringens, thüringen im Mittelalter 1130-1310 Von den Ludowingern zu den Wettinern

20.
Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess of Brabant
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Sophie of Thuringia was the second wife and only Duchess consort of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and Lothier. Sophie was the founder of the Brabant dynasty of Hesse, the Cronica Reinhardsbrunnensis recorded Sophies birth,1224 mensis tercio XX die to beata Elisabeth of filiam Sophiam in castro Wartburg. She had an older brother Hermann II, Landgrave of Thuringia, when Sophie was three years old, her father embarked for the Sixth Crusade, and died unexpectedly of a fever on his way to the Holy Land. Her brother Hermann succeeded as landgrave, however, their uncle Henry Raspe acted as his regent and her mother, following the birth of her posthumous daughter, Gertrud, left Wartburg Castle and went to live in Marburg where she founded a Franciscan hospital for the poor and sick. Sophie and her two siblings were sent away on the orders of their mothers manipulative confessor, Konrad of Marburg and they were placed in Bollenstein Castle, under the supervision of their great-uncle Egbert, Bishop of Bamberg. When Sophie was seven, her mother died, leaving her and her siblings orphans, in 1235, Elisabeth was canonised as a saint. Upon Elisabeths death, which had occurred in 1231, Henry Raspe assumed control of Thuringia, becoming its de facto landgrave and this dispute led to the War of the Thuringian Succession, which lasted for 17 years. The outcome of the dispute was the emergence of Hesse as an independent landgraviate, in 1241 at the age of 17, Sophie married Henry II, Duke of Brabant and Lothier as his second wife. Her marriage was recorded in the Annales Parchenses and she was his only wife to be styled Duchess of Brabant and Lothier, as Henrys first wife Marie of Hohenstaufen had died just six months before he succeeded his father to the dukedom. Together Henry and Sophie had two children, Elisabeth of Brabant, married Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg and had no issue. Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse The Child, married firstly Adelheid of Brunswick-Luneburg, by whom he had issue, married secondly Mechthild of Cleves, Sophie also had six stepchildren from her husbands first marriage to Marie. She was described as having been an energetic and courageous woman and she began all her letters and charters with the following, We, Sophie, duchess of Brabant, daughter of St. Elisabeth. After the death of her husband, Sophie resided in a castle situated beside the Dijle river in the village of Sint-Agatha-Rode and she died on 29 May 1275 in Marburg, and was buried in Villers Abbey in Brabant. There is a statue representing her and her son Henry in Marburg

21.
House of Hesse
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Originally the western part of the Landgraviate of Thuringia, in the mid 13th century it was inherited by the younger son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant, and became a distinct political entity. From the late 16th century it was divided into several branches. The Electorate of Hesse was annexed by Prussia in 1866, while Grand Ducal Hesse remained a sovereign realm until the end of the German monarchies in 1918, donatus, Landgrave of Hesse is the current head of the house. Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, died in 1567, Hesse was divided between his four sons, four new lines which arose, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Rheinfels. The Battenbergs who later settled in England changed that name to Mountbatten after World War I at the behest of George V, who substituted British peerages for their former German princely title. Those descended from the marriage of Alexander of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria, hesse-Philippsthal died out in the male line in 1925, Hesse-Darmstadt in 1968. The male-line heirs of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld flourish, list of rulers of Hesse This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Dutch Wikipedia

22.
House of Wettin
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The House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors and kings that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, the Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of medieval states. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, the family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 by the Treaty of Leipzig, the Ernestine and Albertine branches. The older Ernestine branch played a key role during the Protestant Reformation, many ruling monarchs outside Germany were later tied to its cadet branch, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Albertine branch, while less prominent, ruled most of Saxony, agnates of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of Great Britain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, and Belgium. Only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today, the oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain is Theodoric I of Wettin, also known as Dietrich, Thiedericus, and Thierry I of Liesgau. He was most probably based in the Liesgau, around 1000, the family acquired Wettin Castle, which was originally built by the local Slavic tribes, after which they named themselves. Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hassegau on the Saale River, around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. The prominence of the Wettins in the Slavic Saxon Eastern March caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family split into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hitherto ruled jointly, as Albert ruled under the title of Duke of Saxony, his possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony. The older Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation, Frederick III appointed Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon to the University of Wittenberg, which he had established in 1502. The Ernestine predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War, which pitted the Protestant Schmalkaldic League against the Emperor Charles V, although itself Lutheran, the Albertine branch rallied to the Emperors cause. Charles V had promised Moritz the rights to the electorship, after the Battle of Mühlberg, Johann Friedrich der Großmütige, had to cede territory and the electorship to his cousin Moritz. Although imprisoned, Johann Friedrich was able to plan a new university and it was established by his three sons on 19 March 1548 as the Höhere Landesschule at Jena. On 15 August 1557, Emperor Ferdinand I awarded it the status of university, the Ernestine line was thereafter restricted to Thuringia and its dynastic unity swiftly crumbled, dividing into a number of smaller states, the Ernestine duchies. In the 18th century, Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, established what was to become known as Weimar Classicism at his court in Weimar, notably by bringing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there. The Ernestine Wettins, on the hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory

23.
Henry III, Margrave of Meissen
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Henry III, called Henry the Illustrious from the House of Wettin was Margrave of Meissen and last Margrave of Lusatia from 1221 until his death, from 1242 also Landgrave of Thuringia. Born probably at the Albrechtsburg residence in Meissen, Henry was the youngest son of Margrave Theodoric I, Margrave of Meissen and his wife Jutta, in 1230 he was legally proclaimed an adult. Henry had his first combat experience in sometime around 1234, while on crusade in Prussia and his pilgrimage and company is well-documented by Peter of Dusburg, and it resulted in the construction of Balga castle, an important administrative centre for the Teutonic Knights. In 1245 after many years of conflict with the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, he was forced to cede the fortresses of Köpenick, Teltow and Mittenwalde north of Lower Lusatia. In 1249 however, the Silesian duke Bolesław II the Bald granted him the area around Schiedlo Castle at the Oder river. In the struggle between the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX, Henry took the side of the Emperor, in consideration, Frederick II in 1242 promised him the heritage of Henry Raspe as Landgrave of Thuringia and Count palatine of Saxony. In 1243 the Emperor also betrothed his daughter Margaret of Sicily to Henrys son Albert II, Henry remained a loyal supporter of the Hohenstaufens and not before the departure of Fredericks son Conrad IV from Germany did he recognise the antiking William of Holland. From 1273 Henry was an important support to the newly elected Rex Romanorum Rudolph of Habsburg in his struggle against rivaling King Ottokar II of Bohemia, Henry was patron of many tournaments and singing competitions, in which he also took part himself, and commissioned the famous Christherre-Chronik. He set to music hymns to be sung in the churches, in 1234 Henry married Constance of Babenberg, the daughter of Duke Leopold VI of Austria. For his younger son Theodoric, Henry had created – though without imperial consent – the smaller Margraviate of Landsberg in the part of the Lusatian lands around Leipzig. Henry kept for only the Margraviate of Meissen, the remaining Lower Lusatian lands. Only domestic disorders, caused by the unworthiness of his son Albert, clouded the later years of his reign and indeed, long after his death in 1288, led to the loss of Lusatia and Thuringia

24.
Prince
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A prince is a male ruler, monarch, or member of a monarchs or former monarchs family. Prince is also a title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess, the English word derives, via the French word prince, from the Latin noun princeps, from primus + capio, meaning the chief, most distinguished, ruler, prince. The Latin word prīnceps, became the title of the informal leader of the Roman senate some centuries before the transition to empire. Emperor Augustus established the position of monarch on the basis of principate. The term may be used of persons in various cultures. These titles were borne by courtesy and preserved by tradition, not law, in medieval and Early Modern Europe, there were as many as two hundred such territories, especially in Italy, Germany, and Gaelic Ireland. In this sense, prince is used of any and all rulers and this is the Renaissance use of the term found in Niccolò Machiavellis famous work, Il Principe. Most small territories designated as principalities during feudal eras were allodial and this is attested in some surviving styles for e. g. British earls, marquesses, and dukes are still addressed by the Crown on ceremonial occasions as high, in parts of the Holy Roman Empire in which primogeniture did not prevail, all legitimate agnates had an equal right to the familys hereditary titles. Gradual substitution of the title of Prinz for the title of Fürst occurred. Both Prinz and Fürst are translated into English as prince, but they not only different. This distinction had evolved before the 18th century for dynasties headed by a Fürst in Germany, note that the princely title was used as a prefix to his Christian name, which also became customary. Cadets of Frances other princes étrangers affected similar usage under the Bourbon kings, the post-medieval rank of gefürsteter Graf embraced but elevated the German equivalent of the intermediate French, English and Spanish nobles. By the 19th century, cadets of a Fürst would become known as Prinzen, the husband of a queen regnant is usually titled prince consort or simply prince, whereas the wives of male monarchs take the female equivalent of their husbands title. In Brazil, Portugal and Spain, however, the husband of a monarch was accorded the masculine equivalent of her title. To complicate matters, the style His/Her Highness, a prefix often accompanying the title of a dynastic prince, although the arrangement set out above is the one that is most commonly understood, there are also different systems. Depending on country, epoch, and translation, other usages of prince are possible, foreign-language titles such as Italian principe, French prince, German Fürst and Prinz, Russian knyaz, etc. are usually translated as prince in English

25.
Adolf of Germany
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Adolf was Count of Nassau from about 1276 and elected King of Germany from 1292 until his deposition by the prince-electors in 1298. He was never crowned by the Pope, which would have secured him the title of Holy Roman Emperor and he was the first physically and mentally healthy ruler of the Holy Roman Empire ever to be deposed without a papal excommunication. Adolf died shortly afterwards in the Battle of Göllheim fighting against his successor Albert of Habsburg and he was the second in the succession of so-called count-kings of several rivalling comital houses striving after the Roman-German royal dignity. Adolf was the count of a small German state. He was born about 1255 and was the son of Walram II, Count of Nassau, Adolf’s brother was Dieter of Nassau, who was appointed Archbishop of Trier in 1300. Adolf was married in 1270 to Imagina of Isenburg-Limburg and they had eight children, Agnes of Isenburg-Limburg, the sister of Imagina, was married to Henry of Westerburg, the brother of Siegfried II of Westerburg, the Archbishop of Cologne. In 1276 or 1277, Adolf followed his father as Count of Nassau, from his father, he inherited the family’s lands south of the Lahn River in the Taunus Mountains. These included Wiesbaden and Idstein, as fiefdoms, and the Vogtship in Weilburg under the Bishopric of Worms and he also shared ownership of the family homelands around the castles of Nassau and Laurenburg. Around 1280, Adolf became involved in the Nassau-Eppstein Feud with the Lords of Eppstein, in which the city of Wiesbaden was devastated, the feud was settled in 1283, after which the city and the castle were rebuilt. Sonnenberg, along with Idstein, became Adolf’s residence and he granted Idstein town privileges in 1287 and built its fortifications. Through his uncle, Eberhard I of Katzenelnbogen, Adolf came to the court of King Rudolf I of Habsburg, King Rudolf awarded him with the Burghauptmannamt of Kalsmunt Castle in Wetzlar and a year later that of Gutenfels Castle near Kaub. Before his election, Adolf’s political activities had been limited to his role as Bundesgenosse of the Archbishop of Cologne, Adolf had no particular office, but likely became known through his involvement with the Archbishops of Cologne and Mainz in the politics of the Middle Rhine and Mainz areas. He spoke German, French, and Latin, which was rare at that time for nobles, after his election, King Adolf of Nassau would only rarely be in his home country, having transferred the government there to his burgmen. On 17 January 1294, he purchased Weilburg for 400 pounds from the Bishopric of Worms and he granted Weilburg town privileges on 29 December 1295. He also established the Clarisse abbey of Klarenthal near Wiesbaden in 1296, Rudolf I of Habsburg died on 15 July 1291. For many years before his death, Rudolf had tried to secure the election of his eldest son Albert as his successor and he was thwarted, however, by the opposition of the Archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried II of Westerburg, and the King of Bohemia, Wenceslaus II. Only the Count Palatine Louis II of Upper Bavaria the Rigorous promised to choose Albert, Wenceslaus, despite Rudolfs recognition of his electoral vote, refused to support Albert because he would not cede Carinthia to him. He took the side of the nobles in the core Habsburg areas of Swabia and in their newly acquired territories in Austria, Wenceslaus was supported by Duke Otto III of Lower Bavaria, whose family were traditional enemies of the Habsburgs

26.
Upper Hesse
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The province of Upper Hesse was one of three provinces in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and later the Peoples State of Hesse. Its territory covers the area of north of the River Main in the historic region of Upper Hesse. The provincial capital and largest town of the provinces was the university town of Gießen. The province emerged as part of the new order in Germany after the Vienna Congress of 1815, the other two provinces in Hess were Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse. The provinces of the Grand Duchy were wound up on 31 Juli 1848 and replaced by administrative regions, this was reversed again on 12 May 1852

27.
William II, Landgrave of Hesse
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William II was Landgrave of Lower Hesse from 1493 and Landgrave of Upper Hesse after the death of his cousin, William III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse in 1500. William II is also called William the Middle to distinguish him from his elder brother William I the Elder, and his cousin William III and his parents were Louis II the Frank and Mechthild, daughter of Count Louis II of Württemberg. William II became Landgrave of Lower Hesse in 1493, after his brother William I resigned, on 9 November 1497 William II married Yolande, daughter of Frederick II of Vaudémont. She died on 21 May 1500 after the marriage produced one child, in 1503, Emperor Maximilian I commissioned William with executing the ban on Elector Philip of the Palatinate. |} Wilhelm II v. Hessen, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Wikisource, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, genealogy of William II Marek, Miroslav. Genealogy of the Hessian noble family

28.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists

29.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
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Charles V was ruler of both the Spanish Empire from 1516 and the Holy Roman Empire from 1519, as well as of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1506. He voluntarily stepped down from these and other positions by a series of abdications between 1554 and 1556, through inheritance, he brought together under his rule extensive territories in western, central, and southern Europe, and the Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia. As a result, his domains spanned nearly four square kilometers and were the first to be described as the empire on which the sun never sets. Charles was the heir of three of Europes leading dynasties, the Houses of Valois-Burgundy, Habsburg, and Trastámara and he inherited the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche-Comté as heir of the House of Valois-Burgundy. From his own dynasty, the Habsburgs, he inherited Austria and he was also elected to succeed his Habsburg grandfather, Maximilian I, as Holy Roman Emperor, a title held by the Habsburgs since 1440. Charles was the first king to rule Castile and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, the personal union, under Charles, of the Holy Roman Empire with the Spanish Empire resulted in the closest Europe would come to a universal monarchy since the death of Louis the Pious. France recovered and the wars continued for the remainder of Charless reign, enormously expensive, they led to the development of the first modern professional army in Europe, the Tercios. The struggle with the Ottoman Empire was fought in Hungary and the Mediterranean, after seizing most of eastern and central Hungary in 1526, the Ottomans’ advance was halted at their failed Siege of Vienna in 1529. A lengthy war of attrition, conducted on his behalf by his younger brother Ferdinand, in the Mediterranean, although there were some successes, Charles was unable to prevent the Ottomans’ increasing naval dominance and the piratical activity of the Barbary Corsairs. Charles opposed the Reformation and in Germany he was in conflict with the Protestant Princes of the Schmalkaldic League who were motivated by religious and political opposition to him. Once the rebellions were quelled the essential Castilian and Burgundian territories remained mostly loyal to Charles throughout his rule, Charles’s Spanish dominions were the chief source of his power and wealth, and they became increasingly important as his reign progressed. In the Americas, Charles sanctioned the conquest by Castillian conquistadors of the Aztec, Castillian control was extended across much of South and Central America. The resulting vast expansion of territory and the flows of South American silver to Castile had profound long term effects on Spain. Charles was only 56 when he abdicated, but after 34 years of rule he was physically exhausted and sought the peace of a monastery. Upon Charles’s abdications, the Holy Roman Empire was inherited by his younger brother Ferdinand, the Spanish Empire, including the possessions in the Netherlands and Italy, was inherited by Charles’s son Philip II. The two empires would remain allies until the 18th century, Charles was born in 1500 as the eldest son of Philip the Handsome and Joanna of Castile in the Flemish city of Ghent, which was part of the Habsburg Netherlands. The culture and courtly life of the Burgundian Low Countries were an important influence in his early life and he was tutored by William de Croÿ, and also by Adrian of Utrecht. He also gained a decent command of German, though he never spoke it as well as French, a witticism sometimes attributed to Charles is, I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse

30.
Electorate of Hesse
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The Electorate of Hesse was a state elevated by Napoleon in 1803 from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, the Prince-Elector of Hesse chose to remain an Elector, in 1807, with the Treaties of Tilsit the area was annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia, but in 1814 the Congress of Vienna restored the electorate. The state—last of its kind—consisted of several detached territories to the north of Frankfurt which survived until 1866 with the name of an electorate within the German Confederation and it comprised a total land area of 3,699 square miles, and its population in 1864 was 745,063. The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel originated in 1567 with the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the heirs of Philip I of Hesse after his death. Philips eldest son, William IV, received Hesse-Kassel, which comprised half the area of the Landgraviate of Hesse, including the capital. The reign of the Landgrave William IX was an important epoch in the history of Hesse-Kassel, ascending the throne in 1785, he took part in the War of the First Coalition against French First Republic a few years later, but in 1795 the Peace of Basel was signed. In 1806 William I signed a treaty of neutrality with Napoleon Bonaparte, Hesse-Kassel was then incorporated to the Kingdom of Westphalia under the rule of Jérôme Bonaparte. After the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 the French were driven out of Hesse-Kassel and this treaty, so far as the territories were concerned, was implemented by the Great Powers at the Congress of Vienna. They refused, however, the Electors request to be recognized as King of the Chatti, William therefore retained the now empty title of prince-elector, with the predicate of Royal Highness. Everything was set back to its condition on 1 November 1806, even the officials had to descend to their rank. William I died on 27 February 1821, and was succeeded by his son William II, under him the constitutional crisis in Kassel came to a head. The July Revolution in Paris gave the signal for disturbances, William II was forced to summon the Estates, the Elector now retired to Hanau, appointed his son Frederick William regent, and took no further part in public affairs. Frederick William, without his fathers coarseness, had a share of his arbitrary. Constitutional restrictions were intolerable to him, and the consequent friction with the Diet was aggravated when in 1832 Hans Hassenpflug was placed at the head of the administration. After the breakdown of the Frankfurt National Parliament, Frederick William joined the Prussian Northern Union, but as Austria recovered strength, the Electors policy changed. On 2 September the Diet was dissolved, the taxes were continued by Electoral ordinance, and it was at once clear, however, that the Elector could not depend on his officers or troops, who remained faithful to their oath to the constitution. Hassenpflug persuaded the Elector to leave Kassel secretly with him, and on 15 October appealed for aid to the federal diet. On 1 November an Austrian and Bavarian force marched into the Electorate, War seemed imminent, Prussian troops also entered the country, and shots were exchanged between the outposts

31.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion

32.
Hesse-Nassau
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The Province of Hesse-Nassau was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. These regions were combined to form the province Hesse-Nassau in 1868 with its capital in Kassel, on 1 April 1929, the Free State of Waldeck became a part of Hesse-Nassau after a popular vote and became part of the Kassel administrative region. In 1935, the Nazi government abolished all states, so the provinces held little meaning, in 1944, Hesse-Nassau was split into the provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau. In 1945, after the end of World War II, these two provinces were merged and combined with the neighbouring Hesse-Darmstadt to form the northern and western part of the newly founded state of Hesse, parts of Nassau were also moved into the Rhineland-Palatinate. The Oberpräsident was the administrator of a Prussian province, appointed by the King on the advice of the Prussian Minister for the Interior. The Oberpräsident administered the province with the assistance of a Prussian government-appointed provincial council, the Dutch royal house originates from the Duchy of Nassau

33.
William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
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William IV of Hesse-Kassel, also called William the Wise, was the first Landgrave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this day, William was born at Kassel, the eldest son of Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous and Christine of Saxony. William took a part in safeguarding the Lutheran Reformation, and was indefatigable in his endeavours to unite the different sections of Protestantism against Catholicism. However, he was reluctant to use force in this conflict. As an administrator he displayed rare energy, issuing numerous ordinances, appointing expert officials, by a law of primogeniture he secured his Landgraviates land against such testamentary divisions as had diminished his fathers estate. William is most notable for his patronage of the arts and sciences, as a youth he had cultivated close connections with scholars and as a ruler he kept up this connection. His interest in astronomy may have inspired by Petrus Apianuss Astronomicum Caesareum. William was a pioneer in research, and perhaps owes his most lasting fame to his discoveries in this branch of study. Most of the mechanical contrivances which made instruments of Tycho Brahe so superior to those of his contemporaries were adopted in Kassel about 1584, from then on the observations made in Hesse-Kassel seem to have been about as accurate as those of Tycho. However the resulting longitudes were 6 too great in consequence of the solar parallax of 3. The principal product of the observations was the Hessian star catalogue. It should be noticed that clocks, on which Tycho depended very little, were used at Kassel for finding the difference of right ascension between Venus and the sun before sunset. Tycho preferred observing the angular distance between the sun and Venus when the latter was visible in the daytime, R. Wolf, in his Astronomische Mittheilungen, No. 45, has given a resume of the still preserved at Kassel. William was married to Sabine of Württemberg, daughter of Christoph, most significant and favored among these was Philipp von Cornberg, Williams son by Elisabeth Wallenstein. Philipp was ennobled by his father and became the ancestor of the current Barons von Cornberg and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. William IV. of Hesse. Biographical data and references at The Galileo Project

34.
Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg
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Landgrave Louis IV of Hesse-Marburg was the son of Landgrave Philip I of Hesse and his wife Christine of Saxony. After the death of his father in 1567, Hesse was divided among his sons and Louis received Hesse-Marburg including Marburg, Louis received his education at the court of Duke Christoph of Württemberg. He had the Marburg Castle renovated by his architect Ebert Baldewein, wanting to enlarge his territory peacefully, he bought parts of the Fuldischen Mark in 1570 from the counts of Nassau-Saarbrücken and the rest in 1583 from the count of Nassau-Weilburg. On 10 May 1563 he married Hedwig of Württemberg and his marriage was to Marie. When he died in 1604 he left no heirs and his 1597 will bequeathed his territory between his nephew, Maurice of Hesse-Kassel and Louis V of Hesse-Darmstadt, on the condition that it would remain Lutheran. Landgraf von Hessen-Marburg 1537-1604, ISBN 978-3-8053-1269-1

35.
Grand Duchy of Hesse
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Hesse lost its independence when it joined the German Empire in 1871. Before 1866, its northern neighbour was its former sister Landgraviate, since 1803 an Electorate, of Hesse-Kassel – for this reason, Hesse-Darmstadt was a member of Napoleons Confederation of the Rhine during the Napoleonic Wars. Rapidly expanding during the mediatizations, Hesse-Darmstadt became an amalgamation of smaller German states, the legal patchwork of the state culminated in a decree issued on 1 October 1806 by Louis I. The old territorial estates were abolished, which altered Hesse-Darmstadt from a mosaic of patrimonial fragments into a centralized, during the Congress of Vienna it was forced to cede the Duchy of Westphalia, which Hesse-Darmstadt had received in 1803, to the Kingdom of Prussia. However, Hesse-Darmstadt received some territory on the bank of the Rhine. The Grand Duchy changed its name to the Grand Duchy of Hesse, in 1867, the northern half of the Grand Duchy became a part of the North German Confederation, while the half of the Grand Duchy south of the Main remained outside. In 1871, it became a constituent state of the German Empire, the last Grand Duke, Ernst Ludwig, was forced from his throne at the end of World War I, and the state was renamed the Peoples State of Hesse. After World War II, the majority of the state combined with Frankfurt am Main, the Waldeck area, excluded were the Montabaur district from Hessen-Nassau and that part of Hessen-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine, which became part of the Rhineland-Palatinate state. Wimpfen—an exclave of Hessen-Darmstadt—became part of Baden-Württemberg, in the district of Sinsheim, after a plebiscite on 29 April 1951, Bad Wimpfen was transferred from Sinsheim district to Heilbronn District. This change to Heilbronn was carried out on 1 May 1952, the Grand Duchy of Hesse was divided into three provinces, Starkenburg, Right bank of the Rhine, south of the Main. Rhenish Hesse, Left bank of the Rhine, territory gained from the Congress of Vienna, upper Hesse, North of the Main, separated from Starkenburg by the Free City of Frankfurt. List of rulers of Hesse Line of succession to the former Hessian throne Hessenlager Constitution of Hesse Das Großherzogtum Hessen 1806–1918 Großherzogtum Hessen 1910

36.
People's State of Hesse
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The Peoples State of Hesse was the name of the German state of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1918 until 1945. After the end of World War I, the Grand Duchy of Hesse became a republic, the state consisted of provinces Upper Hesse, Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse. The area of the state was 7,692 km², it had 1,347,279 inhabitants, around two-thirds professed Protestantism, the other third Roman Catholicism. In accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, approximately 40% of the territory was occupied by the French Army until June 30,1930. After the end of World War II, Oberhessen and Starkenburg formed part of the American occupation zone, while Rhenish Hesse, on the bank of the Rhine. On September 19,1945, American administrators created the new state of Greater Hesse from the Prussian provinces of Hesse and Nassau, Greater Hesse was renamed Hesse on December 1,1946, and later became one of the federal states of West Germany. Parts of the state on the banks of the Rhine subsequently became part of the Rhineland-Palatinate federal state

37.
George I, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
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George I of Hesse-Darmstadt was the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1567 to 1596. Born on 10 September 1547 in Kassel, he was the son of Philip I the Magnanimous of Hesse. Following his fathers death in 1567 Hesse was divided between his four sons, george I received the upper County of Katzenelnbogen and selected Darmstadt as his residence. He died on 7 February 1596 and the Landgraviate was passed to his son Louis, on 17 August 1572, he married Magdalene of Lippe. Wikisource, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Georg I v. Hessen-Darmstadt

38.
Greater Hesse
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Greater Hesse was the provisional name given for a section of German territory created by the US military administration in at the end of World War II. It was formed by the Allied Control Council on 19 September 1945, the Prussian provinces of Hesse and Nassau. These two provinces were formed from the division of the province of Hesse-Nassau in 1944, a number of smaller territorial changes also took place. The enclave of Bad Wimpfen, which belonged to the Hessian province of Starkenburg. A small part of the Prussian province of Hesse, containing the town of Schmalkalden, lay in the Soviet zone and became part of the state of Thuringia. This new territory was named Hesse because most of the territory that comprised it had belonged to successor states of the Landgraviate of Hesse. While Proclamation No.2 of the Allied Control Council declared the territory that would comprise Greater Hesse, four cities were considered for the new capital, Frankfurt, the former Imperial city, was by far the largest city in the new region. Another reason for Frankfurts unsuitability as state capital was the fact that most of the city had been destroyed by Allied bombing during the war, darmstadt, the former Hessian capital, was also considered unsuitable due to its war damage. Kassel, the capital of the Prussian province of Hesse was considered unsuitable, not only due to its war damage, Wiesbaden, the capital of the Prussian province of Nassau, suffered relatively minor damage from the war. This, combined with its location within the Rhine-Main metropolitan area, on 12 October 1945, the first organisational directive for Greater Hesse was announced. Point number one of this directive stated that the capital for Greater Hesse would be Wiesbaden. In addition to the establishment of Wiesbaden as the new Hessian capital,12 October 1945 saw the installment of high-school teacher Karl Geiler as minister-president. Geiler replaced SPD-politician Ludwig Bergsträsser, who served as acting minister-president for only one month, on 22 November 1945, the constitution for Greater Hesse was introduced. This constitution was superseded on 1 December 1946 with the establishment of the state of Hesse

39.
Rhenish Hesse
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The hilly countryside is largely devoted to vineyards, comprising the Rheinhessen wine region. Rhenish Hesse, stretches from the Upper Rhine Plain on the west bank of the Rhine up to the Nahe and Alsenz rivers in the west, the region borders on the Rhineland in the northwest, on the Palatinate in the southwest, and on South Hesse beyond the Rhine. The Rhenish-Hessian Hills along the Selz river, also called the land of the hills, reach up to 358 m at the summit of the Kappelberg. The Mainz Basin, a Cenozoic marine basin, covered the area about 38 to 12 million years ago, the landscape is characterised by large Loess and Marl deposits. Due to the climatic conditions of Rhenish Hesse, agriculture covers most of the region. As the Hunsrück and Taunus ranges protect it from winds, wine. The region comprises the cities of Mainz – the Rhineland-Palatinate capital – and Worms, surrounded by the districts of Mainz-Bingen. Other towns include Bingen, Alzey, Nieder-Olm, Ingelheim, Nierstein, Oppenheim, many inhabitants commute to work in Mainz or Wiesbaden and Frankfurt in the neighbouring state of Hesse. The Rhenish-Hessian lands already gained significant importance, when they were allotted to King Louis the German by the 843 Treaty of Verdun. The region was part of the territory of Rhenish Franconia, it comprised the Imperial Cathedrals of Worms. The Worms Synagogue and the Jewish Cemetery count among the oldest in Europe, because of this addition, he amended his title to Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and the name of the region was created. After World War II, in Allied-occupied Germany, the Rhenish-Hessian lands were incorporated as a district into the established state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1946. Each region has developed its own cuisine dependent on geography, climate, soils, seasons and these vary from plain home cooking with simple dishes to culinary specialities for festive occasions. Rhenish Hesse also has a number of specialities, with Weck, Worscht un Woi. Outside Germany, it is best known as the home of Liebfraumilch, most is made from white varieties such as Riesling, Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, and Scheurebe. The best-known white wine area is the Rhine Terrace near Oppenheim, some red varieties are grown, particularly around Ingelheim and Gundersheim, including Pinot noir, Blauer Portugieser, Dornfelder, and the recently established Regent. Official website of Rheinhessen with information about wine, tourism and culture Website on the history of Rheinhessen

Upon the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the victorious Allies asserted their joint authority and sovereignty …

The Allied zones of occupation in post-war Germany, highlighting the Soviet zone (red), the inner German border (black line), and the zone from which American troops withdrew in July 1945 (purple). The provincial boundaries correspond largely to those of the pre-war states, before the creation of the present Länder (federal states).